Relative Severity of Human Performance Decrements Recorded in Rapid vs. Gradual Decompression.

Cabin decompression presents a threat in high-altitude-capable aircraft. A chamber study was performed to compare effects of rapid (RD) vs. gradual decompression and gauge impairment at altitude with and without hypoxia, as well as to assess recovery.

Contextual cueing during lethal force training: How target design and repetition can alter threat assessments.

Lethal force training requires individuals to make threat assessments, which involves holistic scenario processing to identify potential threats. Photorealistic targets can make threat/non-threat judgments substantially more genuine and challenging compared to simple cardboard or silhouette targets. Unfortunately, repeated target use also brings unintended consequences that could invalidate threat assessment processes conducted during training.

Personal Hypoxia Symptoms Vary Widely Within Individuals.

Exposure to high ambient altitudes above 10,000 ft (3048 m) over sea level during aviation can present the risk of hypobaric hypoxia. Hypoxia can impair sensory and cognitive functions, degrading performance and leading to mishaps. Military aircrew undergo regular hypoxia familiarization training to recognize their symptoms and understand the consequences of hypoxia.

Voluntary Urinary Retention Effects on Cognitive Performance.

Aircrew in-flight bladder relief remains an understudied stressor; specifically the effects of withholding urination on flight-relevant cognitive performance. This quasi-experimental study investigated whether voluntary urinary retention over a 3-h period negatively impacted cognitive performance. We assessed vigilance using the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) and measured the P3b event-related potential (ERP) in response to PVT stimuli.

Sex comparisons in physiological and cognitive performance during hypoxic challenge.

Within the tactical aviation community, human performance research lags in considering potential psychophysiological differences between male and female aviators due to little inclusion of females during the design and development of aircraft systems. A poor understanding of how male and female aviators differ with respect to human performance results in unknown potential sex differences on aeromedically relevant environmental stressors, perchance leading to suboptimal performance, safety, and health guidelines. For example, previous hypoxia studies have excluded female participants or lacked a sizeable sample to examine sex comparisons.